Red Letter Media

[ditto]

Still no Shoji Tabuchi joke.

- picture extremely fucking related -

What's Malcolm Tucker doing in a space suit?

 

[TheImportantFart]

Maybe his other novels are better.

Wonder Boys is pretty good.

Looking at his career as a screenwriter his most significant work aside from Picard is an early script for Spider-Man 2 and John Carter. Everyone knows about the trainwreck that was John Carter, but he's widely credited in fan circles as being the man who saved Spider-Man 2.

I think that claim's a little dubious. His biggest contribution was trimming out the multitude of villains that were originally involved, which was an admittedly good move (in addition to Doc Ock, they were going to have the Lizard, the Black Cat and the New Green Goblin) and having Harry Osborne and Doc Ock team up against Spiderman. Aside from that, his script really doesn't sound like it was all that special. Doc Ock was younger in his script, and was going to be Peter Parker's rival for Mary Jane. His goal was to steal Peter's spine to save himself. Yeah...

Not the most glowing resume.

 

[BScCollateral]

View attachment 1308536
- picture extremely fucking related -

Look, you can see stars through the night half of the Earth.

 

[Dom Cruise]

He's best known for 'The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay', which is the only work of his I've read. It was lauded so heavily I was expecting a lot, but it was one of the worst books I had read up until that point (later displaced by 'A Million Little Pieces' as my lowest of the lows, then later displaced by anything by Frederik Pohl). Maybe his other novels are better.

The one book he did that seemed interesting to me was "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" which was going to be a Coen Brother's movie but it never happened.

 

[knightlautrec]

This fancy ban from the r/television thread:
https://reddit.com/r/television/comments/gmepru/mr_plinketts_star_trek_picard_review/

Whatever mod wrote those blocks of pure smug fart sniffing autism have seen exactly one vagina in person in their entire life. Their mother's. Because there is zero need for this shit. Nigga either say 'stop being a dick ban stays or no ban lifted'. Nobody wants to prostrate themselves in front of some petty tyrant reddit mod who gets power boners because they're a pathetic lifeform who has no other sense of self so they cling to lording over others on a goddamn upvote forum.

I think it's funny they kept talking about bots but I do know some who like Picard and for the life of me I don't know if they're stupid or just senile and have forgotten everything about TNG. But they bring up the emotional aspects of the show and never the plot and that is really telling to me on the whole. Every bad show recently is about twisted faux emotions to obfuscate bad writing so dumb 'turn my brain off' people won't notice the plot holes or the nonsense.

 

[GhostButt]

But they bring up the emotional aspects of the show and never the plot and that is really telling to me on the whole.

normally emotion would be the most important element in story telling, with plot being literally the scaffolding.

But Trek is the oldest school autism bait: played out almost like a historic dramatization by focusing mostly on strategy/politics/concept/plot and finally baby's first comradery, where drama is almost a necessary element only to get the show on air since suits would absolutely not greenlight a dry as anakin's nuts in the desert take on sci fi JAG.

(tos is not included in this statement because it destroys my theory by being the most dramatic thing ever made)

 

[ditto]

CGI has killed deep, thoughtful Sci-Fi because it's so much easier to copypaste computer explosions than build up characters over time.

 

[vertexwindi]

CGI has killed deep, thoughtful Sci-Fi because it's so much easier to copypaste computer explosions than build up characters over time.

you'd think hiring a good writer would be cheaper than EXPLOSION GO BOOM HAHA

but then again what good writer still works in hollywood these days...

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

CGI has killed deep, thoughtful Sci-Fi because it's so much easier to copypaste computer explosions than build up characters over time.

Not just science fiction, but horror and fantasy as well. Overall I think cgi is a good thing and a lot of talented people have used it to make some really good effects (Jurassic Park, Dragonheart, LotR, even JJTrek looks really good).

But it also significantly lowered the barrier for hacks to just throw shit on the screen. As Rich put it so well: CGI made "stupid" easy.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

Whatever mod wrote those blocks of pure smug fart sniffing autism have seen exactly one vagina in person in their entire life.

It sort of reminded me of Judge Roland Freisler. Who is he? Glad you asked. He's the Nazi judge that was tasked with dispensing "justice" to the conspirators who attempted to kill Hitler in 1944. He spent most of the trial screaming at the accused from the bench before sentencing them to hang on piano wire.

Still, I think the conspirators had a better shot to win their case than this poor redditor did his.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

CGI has killed deep, thoughtful Sci-Fi because it's so much easier to copypaste computer explosions than build up characters over time.

Not just science fiction, but horror and fantasy as well. Overall I think cgi is a good thing and a lot of talented people have used it to make some really good effects (Jurassic Park, Dragonheart, LotR, even JJTrek looks really good).

But it also significantly lowered the barrier for hacks to just throw shit on the screen. As Rich put it so well: CGI made "stupid" easy.

There is something to be said for art through adversity.

Star Wars and Jaws are two of my all time favorite movies, and the productions for those films were notoriously difficult. They had to work around their limitations and create something that worked.

Its also why TNG had so many "cave episodes" and why TOS had so many "dress up/time travel" episodes. They were easier to make within their budget and production restrictions.

With CGI, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Limitations go out the window and the sky is the limit. Because of that, they don't put the same level of care into crafting something that makes sense.

 

[Cast Iron Pan]

With CGI, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Limitations go out the window and the sky is the limit. Because of that, they don't put the same level of care into crafting something that makes sense.

Yes, creativity thrives under limitation. You only have these few materials and they can only do this and this, so you can think of creative ways to use those do what you want. With no limits you remove the struggle which drove important creative processes.

I think with CGI there is also a tendency to use operators/technicians instead of artists, who are working with technology instead of with creativity. You can see that a lot in children's movies, which now almost always look like the most creativity bankrupt abortions. They are like tech demos with voice actors.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

I think with CGI there is also a tendency to use operators/technicians instead of artists, who are working with technology instead of with creativity. You can see that a lot in children's movies, which now almost always look like the most creativity bankrupt abortions. They are like tech demos with voice actors.

Honestly I think this is more the case than simply "art through adversity". When people who actually give a shit are in charge cgi effects tend to look really good. Blade Runner 2049 is another example I forgot to mention.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

Honestly I think this is more the case than simply "art through adversity". When people who actually give a shit are in charge cgi effects tend to look really good. Blade Runner 2049 is another example I forgot to mention.

Oh absolutely. I actually liked Blade Runner 2049 more than the original, so take that for what its worth. They painstakingly recreated the world of the first movie, which is not easy to do, so if you're motivated, great things can come from it.

I also really liked the new Planet of the Apes films. Those did a terrific job with the effects, which just kept getting better and better over the course of the three films.

 

[Reverend]

Oh absolutely. I actually liked Blade Runner 2049 more than the original, so take that for what its worth. They painstakingly recreated the world of the first movie, which is not easy to do, so if your motivated, great things can come from it.

I also really liked the new Planet of the Apes films. Those did a terrific job with the effects, which just kept getting better and better over the course of the three films.

Dark Crystal on netflix was one of the most beautiful artistry that graces our modern screens. You could tell the puppeteers knew what they were doing at every level. I'd kill for more beauty like that.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Who cares if the new iterations of the old stuff fail? They can't destroy the stuff that made it good. That was the thing that annoys me the most about people whinging about the new Star Wars trilogy -- "LUKE SKYWALKER'S CHARACTER IS RUINED REEEEE"

You fools. You morons. Just ignore the stuff you don't like. Not even George Lucas at the height of his power could destroy the OG version of the OT.

While I generally agree with your notion, that it's silly to pretend that some shitty movie means there will never be a good movie in that franchise ever again, it is a bit more complicated.

Star Wars is a good example, precisely for how they fucked up Luke and they did the same with Picard now, too. Can this take away the joy I once had with the original movies and shows? No. But it can decrease my enjoyment of this stuff in the future. As long as Loser-Luke is canon, every movie and every piece of media going forward in that "timeline" will act to remind me what they did to that once beloved character. Even if they don't directly reference it, I *know*, that it is set in the same world, where Luke wanted to stab his nephew in his sleep. Not even the old stuff is safe from being retroactively ruined and GoT is a prime example of that. After the devastatingly bad Season 8, it is next to impossible to watch even parts of the amazing first seasons, cause you know how it'll pan out ultimately. For me, even re-reading the novels suffers from this.
It's still enjoyable to a degree, but you can't enjoy it as enthusiastically and light-hearted as you used to.

The only thing that can help here is to remove the problematic aspect (such as Disney SW or STD/STP) by making it non-canon and making something else instead to take its place.
Won't happen for a nice long time, though, and as I said, as long as it's canon, this doesn't go away completely.

The one sin that Disney committed with SW, that no one will ever be able to wash away, no matter what happens is this:
They wasted the last and only chance to reunite the OG cast for a last hoorah before passing the torch. They can declare Loser-Luke non-canon, but they can't give us a joyful reunification of Leia, Han and Luke on the silver screen and that is just a damn shame. They had the chance and they blew - not out of incompetence, but out of sheer spite and contempt.

Older Trek would get drug through the mud now for daring to sympathetically portray sexist Ferengi and colonialist Cardassians, and suggesting that the way toward peace is convincing them to change their society from within, and isn't to shout stupid slogans at them.

In modern media, just acknowledging that a sexist person is still a person is akin to supporting sexism. We no longer get relatable, well-written and nuanced villains, we get "FUCK DRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMPF" villains. Sexist racist scumbags with tiny hands and red caps, blemished by the original sin of being white male.
STP was specifically made to "take Picard down a notch", it was made solely to shit on a character for being a successful white male and the villains are boring and one dimensional.

How fucked up is that?

Yes, creativity thrives under limitation. You only have these few materials and they can only do this and this, so you can think of creative ways to use those do what you want. With no limits you remove the struggle which drove important creative processes.

When you put Spock in an SS uniform, you need to come up with a plot to explain that and explain it well. The concept itself is silly, so you need to bust your ass to make it just "not-silly" enough, to make it work.

They would have a huge hit on their hands but they're too stubborn or stupid to see it. These monstrous, CG heavy TV shows have become so blase. I saw that whole fleet battle at the end of the show and it did nothing for me.

I doubt there is much of a change, even if you are totally on board with the show, since the last fight in either STD or STP looks like it is the culmination of the plot and an escalation to the last big push against the main villain, it's just the end of an arbitrary length of time spent watching men being mouthbreathers and women being condescending cunts on screen, before previously unmentioned fleets pop up and duke it out against each other. You might as well cut to black with big letters announcing "CLIMAX BATTLE GOES HERE" before it starts. It seems so disconnected.

In another thread I already said that the big final fight both in STD and STP makes me nauseous and indifferent, since it's just CGI vomit for a couple minutes interspersed with unlikeable assholes doing quippy one-liners.

It's not even just a pit bull, it's an unneutered male pit with docked ears. It's literally a drug dealer dog. Which still exists hundreds of years in the future because Patrick Stewart wanted to make a political point.
I lost my fucking shit with that line about how the dog would let him know if Dahj was dangerous, as though there aren't literally thousands of cases of these things suddenly mauling small children who aren't doing anything. I half expect to hear about this specific dog mauling somebody because fucking look at it. It's ridiculous.

So, what's up with SJWdom and pitbulls? Is it a dog notorious for being used by blacks and thus is now somehow the most glorious breed, cause it's anti-racist to like dogs affiliated with blacks?

 

[Judge Holden]

So, what's up with SJWdom and pitbulls? Is it a dog notorious for being used by blacks and thus is now somehow the most glorious breed, cause it's anti-racist to like dogs affiliated with blacks?

The obvious answer is because pitbulls have trended recently in internetland in a similar way to how shibes and corgis did beforehand, and offered extra smug points for people wanting to show themselves as sthuper-duper caring and unjudgemental

 

[Lunatic Fringe]

Dark Crystal on netflix was one of the most beautiful artistry that graces our modern screens. You could tell the puppeteers knew what they were doing at every level. I'd kill for more beauty like that.

Spoiler: Actual PL

Literal friend of a friend worked on this and said the whole thing was so professional they loved every moment of their work. Everyone working with real passion on something they loved and wanted to make the best work possible.

 

[haurchefant]

While I generally agree with your notion, that it's silly to pretend that some shitty movie means there will never be a good movie in that franchise ever again, it is a bit more complicated.

Star Wars is a good example, precisely for how they fucked up Luke and they did the same with Picard now, too. Can this take away the joy I once had with the original movies and shows? No. But it can decrease my enjoyment of this stuff in the future. As long as Loser-Luke is canon, every movie and every piece of media going forward in that "timeline" will act to remind me what they did to that once beloved character. Even if they don't directly reference it, I *know*, that it is set in the same world, where Luke wanted to stab his nephew in his sleep. Not even the old stuff is safe from being retroactively ruined and GoT is a prime example of that. After the devastatingly bad Season 8, it is next to impossible to watch even parts of the amazing first seasons, cause you know how it'll pan out ultimately. For me, even re-reading the novels suffers from this.
It's still enjoyable to a degree, but you can't enjoy it as enthusiastically and light-hearted as you used to.

The only thing that can help here is to remove the problematic aspect (such as Disney SW or STD/STP) by making it non-canon and making something else instead to take its place.
Won't happen for a nice long time, though, and as I said, as long as it's canon, this doesn't go away completely.

The one sin that Disney committed with SW, that no one will ever be able to wash away, no matter what happens is this:
They wasted the last and only chance to reunite the OG cast for a last hoorah before passing the torch. They can declare Loser-Luke non-canon, but they can't give us a joyful reunification of Leia, Han and Luke on the silver screen and that is just a damn shame. They had the chance and they blew - not out of incompetence, but out of sheer spite and contempt.

I guess it's just a matter of perspective then. For me Star Wars was over when the prequels hit. That's when I realized Star Wars was ruined. It was something I wasted a lot of time nagging at internally as a young person. It made the prequel RLM reviews a lot funnier and more cogent to me but it was still something that bothered me...

...until I realized I didn't have to care. I don't have to acknowledge the ~new canon~ that Lucas put out. It doesn't have to matter to me and when that hit me I was horrified by the amount of time that I wasted whining to myself about how STAR WARS IS RUINED just because the prequels were shit.

After I told myself to stop being a whiny bitch and stop feeling sorry for myself, my joy for Star Wars returned. I don't waste time thinking about the prequels and the sequels being shit just didn't impact me very much. It's my personal experience, and opinion, that being so utterly fixated on the sequels/prequels that they ruin your enjoyment of Star Wars is a sign of obsession and a lack of maturity. I'm not trying to be a jerk about how you feel but it's frankly ridiculous to waste so many internet tears on movies. Star Wars is not a religion and it doesn't fill your bank account. They're entertainment. Some of them are better than others.

Star Wars is important to me and it'll always be in my heart. But sometimes you have to step back, look at the Extended Universe and all of the horrid badly written trash that Kevin J Anderson shit out or the New Jedi Order or that Knights of the Old Republic II was an unfinished game and you realize...

Well maybe Star Wars was always kind of shit and just because spiteful people did the sequels doesn't mean that the rest of Star Wars that they didn't touch was any good.

Don't forget that before Disney came Lucas, trying to destroy the Library of Congress's copy of Star Wars because it didn't fit his artistic vision. George Lucas raped my childhood and the fact that people are trying to cover up this violent rape just because they don't like the sequels is frankly ludicrous.

 

[Idiocy Abroad]

Well maybe Star Wars was always kind of shit and just because spiteful people did the sequels doesn't mean that the rest of Star Wars that they didn't touch was any good.

This.

Star Wars as a whole really only had one good movie (ANH), one really good movie (ESB), one mediocre/ok movie (RotJ), and the rest of them are varying degrees of bad. I still love the originals, but people expect way too much out of the franchise given its track record.